The purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of a balanced budget and to provide some practical suggestions for achieving it. It is not anticipated that this will be the last word on the subject but rather that it will be a target piece to better focus discussion of this critical issue. In order to limit the scope of the paper, only the Canadian federal budget is examined. However, the principles and analysis could be applied equally well to provincial or municipal finances.

Writing in a straightforward, non-technical fashion, the authors, an internationally-known roster of economists and sociologists, analyze the economics of racial discrimination, prejudice, quotas, black-white and male-female earnings differentials as well as the landmark reverse discrimination decisions in the Weber and Bakke cases. The sociological effects created by government-mandated affirmative action programs - the main public policy instrument erected to solve such problems - are described in vivid detail.

Originally put in place to remove boom and bust cycles from the markets for agricultural products, and to ensure producers a fair return, marketing boards have become a highly politicized conduit for the transfer of income from consumers to producers. The extent to which marketing boards transfer income depends on their ability to maintain the price for the product at a higher level than would prevail in a free market. In this study, Professor Thomas Borcherding has applied this principle to estimate the extent to which the British Columbia Egg Marketing Board transfers income from consumers to producers.